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Darby claimed several interesting plot-lines last year at the district and state tournaments. Forrider and Gusan capped off an undefeated seasons with state titles. Laney and Brusco emerged from relative obscurity to impressively claim state medals. It should be more of the same this year, with new teams (Hamilton, Tr-Valley, and New Philadelphia) making the move up to D-1. I’m looking forward to seeing the best of what Columbus has to offer in the Division-1 state tournament picture.

106-
Trent Gill(Davidson)-5th at district
James Wimer(Central Crossing)- 2-2 at district
Jacob Thornton(Marysville)- 2-2 at district
Brakan Mead(Liberty)-6th in Middle School

The public schools have moved to the forefront in Columbus area wrestling as Liberty, Marysville, Hayes, Westerville N., Pickerington C. have become the best teams. Marinelli has recently turned Liberty into one of the preeminent programs in the central district and that trend shows no signs of slowing as they add Middle School state placers Mead, and Grenier to a line-up with 2 state placers and another district placer returning. Mead could certainly thrive in the Liberty program at a weight typically dominated by underclassmen. Gill owned a 5-2 win over state 4th placer Laney(Groveport Madison) at Pickerington North last year and finished as the state alternate at a 106 weight that produced 3 state placers. He demonstrated the ability to win close matches at district beating Thornton 4-0, Campbell(Bradley) 1-0 and Lakso(Central Crossing) 7-5 in overtime for 5th place. I’m not sure if he’ll be back down to 106, but hopefully he’ll be able to punch through in his senior year after finishing a match away last season. Wimer got bumped up to 113 by teammate Lakso as a freshman last year, and I’m guessing that he ends up at 106 this season based on his Super 32 registration. James beat Lakso 5-4 at Olentangy early in the season in a match that likely mirrored several of their wrestle-offs during the year. He took his lumps when he first moved up to 113, but he rounded into sound form by district time, going 2-2 and only losing by 1 point to Dooley(Teays Valley) who qualified for state. Robert Valenti(Darby) was a victim of a sectional weight that produced all 4 state qualifiers the next week at Darby. He dropped 2 decisions to eventual state placers, losing 13-6 to Laney and 12-5 to Furnas(Liberty). He could make a solid run at state, and we’ll see if he can get back down to 106 or opts for a larger weight. Thornton wrestled some close matches with several tough wrestlers last year. He beat a tough Henneman(Clay) in their dual meet as well as beating Valenti 7-3 and Hines(Orange) while up at 113. He lost a 7-4 bout to Furnas at Darby, and he’s another one like Valenti that could impact the district picture at 106 or 113. A few others to consider are Smith(Tri-Valley), Will Marshall(Grove City), and Devin Johnson(Pickerington Central).

113-
Shakur Laney(Groveport Madison)- 4th at state
Hayden Lee(Marysville)-6th in Indiana (3rd in 2012)
Luke Nace(Teays Valley)-state qualifier
Conner Thomas(Liberty)-5th at district
Jakson Lakso(Central Crossing)-6th at district

Shakur Laney was one of the great stories at Darby and the state tournament last year. You didn’t hear about him much at a dense 106 pound weight class during the course of the year, and he ended up taking 4th at a tough sectional tournament. Every year kids will rebound from a disappointing sectional tournament to turn around and qualify for state the next week, but few of them follow a sectional 4th with a district title. The next week he showed that his district title was no fluke as he made it to the state semi finals and was very close to pulling off the upset over Austin Assad(Brecksville). With the extra gears that Laney was able to shift into at the district and state tournaments last year, I’ll be intrigued to see just how exceptional he can be this year. As I mentioned before, all of the wrestlers at Laney’s sectional ended up qualifying for state at Darby the next week. Another odd aspect of the 106 weight was that the 4 qualifiers reversed their placement at sectionals the week before. Nace, who won the sectional, finished 4th. Gutierrez(Pickerington N.) was a runner-up to Nace at sectionals but beat him to take 3rd at Darby. Furnas beat Laney for 3rd at sectionals but lost to Laney to finish 2nd at district, and of course Laney won after taking 4th. Laney lost 16-5 to Gutierrez at sectionals and 5-3 to Furnas, but beat Nace 14-12 in overtime to make it to state and remedied the result against Furnas winning 6-2. He beat a skilled Decesare(Nordonia) twice at state as well as Hoberney(North). Although I’m sure he was not satisfied with how it ended, Nace had a great season last year. He beat Gutierrez at his home tournament to win the title, made the finals of Brecksville beating state placers Bray(Dayton Chr.) and Martin(Wapakoneta) en route, and won the sectional title beating Furnas and Gutierrez. I like his odds to match his brother’s feat and place at state for the first time as a senior. Hayden Lee placed 6th and 3rd at the Indiana state tournament the last two years which is impressive in the sense that Indiana is a one class state tournament. Apparently he has made the move back to Ohio, and he’ll certainly be capable of extending that placement streak into the Buckeye state. Lakso took 6th at Medina and finished with the same placement at the district tournament. He and the younger Wimer could go toe-to-toe to see who starts at 106 or 113 again this year. Don’t sleep on Austin O. In this case the “O” referes to Oberly(Kilbourne) who beat Lakso in the sectional semis and dropped a close 2-0 match to Gill for the title. Thomas was a state alternate as a freshman, and he beat another talented freshman state alternate when he defeated Minnifield(Perkins) early last year. He overtook state qualifier Dooley 7-4 at sectionals, and beat Rob McGrath(Bradley) 12-5 for 5th at Darby after McGrath bested him in the quarterfinals. With growth pattern and the fact that Penzone and Furnas are around 120-126, it’s difficult to know whether Thomas can make it back down or if he’ll opt for a weight in the 132 range. C.J. Campbell(Bradley) was tough at 106 last year beating James Wimer 7-4 and winning a sectional title before dropping a close 1-0 match to placer Gill at district.

120-
Greg Brusco(Hayes)-4th at state
Santino DiSabato(Westerville N.)-7th at state
Jonathan Furnas-(Liberty)-7th at state
Kyle Dooley(Teays Valley)-state qualifier
Rob McGrath(Bradley)-6th at district

Who is Greg Brusco? I’m sure this was the question on the minds of many that watched the freshman achieve a 4th place finish in Columbus after seemingly coming out of nowhere last year. After he took second at Darby last year while getting stuck by Dakota Riley(Mount Vernon) in the finals, I thought that he might be a solid freshman that could be a year of two away from making noise in Columbus. He showed tremendous poise at the Schott in his first year of high school. In the first round he knocked off an underrated Tucker(Loveland) 8-6 in overtime. The next round he drew eventual state champion Aaron Assad(Brecksville) and was getting handled early in the match. He never lost his composure and put Assad on his back with a headlock, and he almost had him pinned, if only for a moment. No one would have blamed him if he fell just short of placing after eventually losing 20-10 to Assad, but he came back with a 9-7 overtime win over the senior Ferritto(St. Ignatius) who had placed at state the previous year. That match would be followed with an 11-0 trouncing of 2x state placer Milano(LaSalle) and an 8-6 come-from-behind win over district champ Ziegler(Moeller) where he scored a takedown and back-points in the third period to pull out the win. Mancini(Boardman) gave him the business defeating him 16-3 for 3rd place, but Brusco had one of the more impressive and unexpected runs at the state tournament last year. The question remains the same this year and going forward: Who is Greg Brusco? That’s a question only he can answer and it’s possible that one day the answer will be: a state champion. Boro has Penzone at this weight rather than Furnas, and he knows more than I do about weights, so I’d advise following his outline for weight ahead of mine. However, I mentioned Furnas here and Penzone at 126 with Penzone being the bigger wrestler last year and Furnas wrestling 120 over the summer. Either way, Liberty will have a returning state placer at this weight. Furnas was another wrestler like Laney that seemed to go from good to even better at the end of the year. While he was overshadowed by Laney at the district and state levels, he did defeat Shakur at sectionals and beat the senior 3x state placer Gutierrez 4-2 at Darby to advance to Columbus. I was very impressed with his opening round win over Guillen(Perrysburg) who finished 5th. He looked commanding winning 9-4 and knocked off the senior Heidkamp(Butler) in overtime to place at state for the first time. After an overtime loss to Decesare, he closed out his season with another win over Gutierrez to take 7th at state. This was a sizeable jump from finishing 5th at sectionals the year before, another testament to the quality of the Liberty wrestling program. DiSabato is a third returning state placer that could end up at this weight. He was 7th at Medina losing a pair of matches to Corrao(St. Edward) and accumulating a win over D-3 state placer Sarreshteh(Benton) before winning the Licking Hts. tournament over the impressive freshman Abduljelil(Whitehall-Yearling) who finished 5th in D-2. He lost a close 3-2 college-style match to 2x state-placer Milano in the opening round of Columbus, but soldiered back knocking off Davis(Clay) who was 7th the year prior and beating Corrao 7-2 avenging his losses at Medina. After losing a close 4-2 match to Riley, vengeance was his yet again as he reversed his opening round loss beating Milano for 7th. I’d be intrigued to see how DiSabato’s conservative style plays against Brusco’s high scoring ways, and we may get the chance to find out this coming year. Dooley beat McGrath in overtime to qualify for state and beat Bostic(Jackson) in Columbus losing a 1 point match and a 2 point match to Ziegler(Moeller) and Milano(LaSalle) who finished 6th and 8th respectively. Josh Transue(Jerome) knocked off Dooley in the first round at Darby last year before Thomas(Liberty) eliminated him in a close 4-2 bout. Rob McGrath(Bradley) beat Thomas 8-4 at Darby and was an overtime match away from Making it to the big show.

126-
Giuseppe Penzone(Liberty)-5th at state
Josh Wimer(Central Crossing)-state qualifier (5th in 2012)
Joseph Terry(Pickerington C.)-6th at district
Slade Tyson(Tri-Valley)-6th at district

I was bummed that Wimer was not able to wrestle at state last year as he would have made an already interesting 120 weight class even deeper. This year he will be among the favorites to make the state finals at 126, and his biggest question will be: Can he improve enough to beat the likes of Bavery? He had a sterling performance at Clay last year beating 2x state-placer Screptock 7-3 in the semis at his home tourney and another 2x state-placer Keller(Delta) 11-10 in the finals. He also took 2nd at Hoover beating state qualifiers Cotton(Lake) and Bostic(Jackson) and finished 3rd at Medina falling to Bavery(Perry) 6-2 in the semis but beating state qualifiers Clouse(Beavercreek) and Moore(Willard). He lost a 3-2 match to state finalist Timchenko(Orange) in the district finals last year, and I’m enthused to see what he can do this season. Penzone is a fun wrestler to watch frequently pulling off the pin in his matches. His two wins over Rahmani(Marysville) at Darby must have been exciting as they both have the propensity to end the match early. He pulled off 3 falls at state over the exceptional freshmen Darmstadt(Elyria) and Ward(Moeller) and the senior Bartinelli(North Royalton) for 5th. He and Wimer should be back in the hunt for placement at state as they make a push for a finals appearance. Slade Tyson adds depth to this weight with Tri-Valley’s leap up to D-1. Plus he’s got an awesome name that makes him sound like an action hero from the future. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice. He lost an overtime bout to the tough Raimo(River Valley) to qualify for state last year. We’ll see if he can parlay that success into a state birth in 2014. Pickerington Central has a solid team interspersed with youth and seniority alike. Terry represents one of these younger wrestlers, finishing a match away from state in his freshman campaign. He pinned Ackley(Thomas Worthington) to place at district a week after getting stuck by the same wrestler at their sectional tournament. Lucky Shaut(Kilbourne) is another wrestler at this weight with a phenomenal name, and he was a few point away from placing at Darby last year. Hopefully he and Tyson can square off to determine which name reigns supreme at this weight class. Jared Ferguson(Pickerington N.) defaulted out of sectionals last year which was a shame because he could have raised a ruckus at Darby. Jared finished 7th at Medina majoring state alternate Salti(Olmsted Falls)12-4 and defeating Balboa(Oak Harbor), plus he finished 4th at Mason including a triumph over state qualifier Sicurella(Glen Este) 5-3.

132-
Bobby Smith(Davidson)-2nd at state (5th in 2011)
Tom Rooney(St. Charles)-5th at state
David Sparks(Marysville)-8th at state
Andrew Lieb(Watkins Mem.)-5th at district
Tyler Hogue(Pickerington C.)-6th at district
Trey Grenier(Liberty)-5th at Middle School

Bobby Smith had one of the more bizarre weight fluctuation situations that I can recall last year. He started the year at 145 and eventually made it down to 126 making the state finals opposite Ivan McClay(Massillon). I’m guessing he ends up here, but with his weight movement, he could end up at 138 or 145, possibly starting off at 195. Smith was 5th in D-3 as a freshman at Ready before moving up to 126 as a sophomore. He won his district in 2012 beating McLaughlin(Nelsonville-York) in the semis who ended up being the state champ. He then had a tough state tournament finishing 1-2. Last year he transferred to Davidson where he won the Pickerington North tournament and finished 3rd at Brecksville at 145 with his only loss being 6-1 to 3x state champ Danishek(Dayton Chr.). Down at 126 he defeated Rooney 4-3 in overtime in the sectional final and Sparks 6-2 in the district final. He surged through his first 3 matches at state pinning Borton(Moeller) winning 3-2 over 3x-placer Zeigler(St. Ignatius) and defeating Lasko(Maidson) 5-1 in the semis before falling to McClay 3-1 for the title. He’ll be among the favorites to claim a title at whichever weight he ends up at, but will certainly face a robust test at the sectional and district levels if Sparks and Rooney are at the same weight. Rooney’s a wrestler that’s improved by leaps and bounds over his first two seasons of high school wrestling. A state qualifier as a freshman, he took 5th in Columbus last year beating Driscoll(St. Edward) in sudden victory for 5th after losing to him in the quarterfinals. Rooney also owned a nice 4-2 win over Parrett(Fairmont) at state after pinning DeRuchie(Steele) the prior round. That loss to Smith at sectionals signified Rooney’s first loss of the year, but the fact that he wrestles a less publicized schedule hasn’t stopped him from succeeding at state in his first two years of high school. Marysville wrestles a formidable schedule and that’ll help Sparks once again this year. He defeated Screptock(Clay) at the Moeller duals early in the season and followed that up with a 5th place finish at Brecksville where he beat placer Hagan(Central Cath.) and a 3rd at Top Gun where he beat 2x state placer Kostandaras(Walsh) and qualifier Ott(Eaton). He claimed a 10-5 win over Rooney in their district semi-final match and knocked off district champ Selmon(Princeton) 4-1 to place at state. In his 3 losses at state, Sparks lost by 1 point, 1 point, and 2 points (in overtime) to the wrestlers that finished 3rd and 7th. He’s very close to winning those matches, and given another year in the Marysville room, he may. Lieb was the alternate at 126 last year, losing 9-4 to Kakos(Franklin Hts.) and 7-1 to Rooney at Darby. During that sophomore campaign, he pinned state qualifier Crabtree(River Valley) down at 120 earlier in the year. Hogue is another returning district placer from that stalwart Pickerington Central team, and he lost close 5-1 and 5-3 decisions to Lieb at sectionals and district last year. Gavin McKenney(Central Crossing) won a sectional title over Shaut last year and lost 8-2 to Lieb and 5-0 to Hogue at Darby last year.

138-
Kade Kowalski(Tri-Valley)-3rd at state
Taleb Rahmani(Marysville)-7th at state (4th in 2012)
Lane Hinkle(Mt. Vernon)-state qualifier
Nick Durieux(Westerville N.)-state qualifier
Noah Messerall(Thomas Worthington)-5th at district
Ryan McGrath(Bradley)-6th at district
Maverick Meeks(New Philadelphia)-6th at district
Dominick Demas(Scioto)-3rd at Middle School state 2012
Logan Broskie(Orange)-5th at Middle School state

This weight class could be tremendous at Darby in 2014. You may have Kowalski here with Tri-Valley moving up to Division 1. Rahmani could be here at the rate he’s growing. Plus there are already state qualifiers like Hinkle and Durieux among other talented young wrestlers that will create a tangled district climate. Kowlaski looked stellar last year taking 3rd in D-2. He qualified for state as a freshman, beating Warner at sectionals who had been 3rd in the state the year before, and it was clear to those watching that didn’t already know that he would be something special. Kowalski went 2-2 at Ironman last year defeating state placer Kaminski(Padua) at 138 before making the drop to 132. He wrestled a fairly non-descript schedule after that, missing the Brecksville Tournament before winning his first district title as a sophomore. His only loss at state was to the 3x state champ Micah Jordan, and he bounced back nicely to place 3rd with wins over Oehlers(Fairfield Union) and Whitely(Walsh). This year his team makes the climb into D-1 and he’ll be a part of an excellent crop of wrestlers seeking their first state title at this weight. 138 is stacked at each district which will produce a compelling state environment. Boro has Rahmani at 126, and once again, he knows more about where people will end up than I do. I know he wrestled 152 over the summer, so he could be anywhere from 126 to 138. He’s another wrestler like Penzone that gets a lot of falls, which makes him very exciting to watch. Despite missing half of last season, Rahmani medaled at state for a second straight year. At state he beat Cotton(Lake) in overtime to place and later rolled to a 13-3 victory over Ward(Moeller) in their 7th place match. Always a dangerous wrestler, I’m interested to see how Rahmani develops stylistically as he grows into the middle weights. Hinkle impressed in his freshman year, qualifying for the state tournament. He had several hills and valleys to the season, but wrestled at a very high level at the biggest time of year. He was 4th at SWOWCA, but went 0-2 at Brecksville(lost to state placers Denlinger and Becker). He rebounded with a second at Clay, beating D-2 state placer Kopp(Columbian) in the semis. At the Darby district he finished 3rd, losing a 1 point match to the senior Wilson(Davidson) before beating Messerall 10-5 and Durieux 2-1. His state tournament started off with a bang as he pinned eventual state 7th placer Moss(Maple Hts.), but he subsequently fell to the seniors Mendel(Moeller) and McDougle(Lincoln) who placed 6th and 3rd. A bright future lies ahead for this adroit sophomore. Durieux also qualified for state last year, beating the wrestlers that finished 5th and 6th in the district 17-2 (Messerall) and 7-0 (McGrath), dropping twin 2-1 matches to Wilson and Hinkle. Both McGrath(Bradley) and Messerall will be back this year. They split matches at their sectional and district tournaments. McGrath won the sectional final 4-2 and Messerall won the 5th place match at Darby 8-5. Meeks is another district placer from last year that could wind up at this weight. He lost a close 5-4 match to Foster(Beaver Local) to advance to Columbus last year. As New Philadelphia moves to D-1, we’ll have to see what district they end up at as they previously wrestled at Massillon Perry when they were D-1 previously. Dominick Demas was 3rd in the Middle School state tournament in 2012, and it looks like he’ll be a freshman this year at Scioto. He finished a strong 4th at Fargo in the cadet Greco-Roman tournament. The brother of current Ohio State Buckeye and former 2x state champ Josh Demas will be an intriguing prospect to watch develop this year. This looks like a tremendous amount of talent for one weight, and hopefully there is some dispersion of the best middle weights at Darby.

145-
Tanner Miller(Lancaster)-state qualifier
Ben Hooff(Thomas Worthington)-5th at district
Tyler McCafferty(Pickerington N.)- 2-2 at district
Willy Plaisir(Coffman)- 1-2 at district

Tanner was a very good wrestler last year, and he was only a sophomore. 1-2 at the state tournament he lost 6-4 to Garcia(Lorain) who was 5th and 9-8 to Calvert(Sidney) who placed 6th and 7th at state the last two years. Miller took 4th at Medina, besting state placer Simonelli(CVCA) in the quarters. He defeated Hooff 11-2 in the qualification match at Darby and finished 3rd over Lawler(Davidson). He looks like a potential district favorite at 145 this year, and state placement is likely in his future. There’s already promising underclassmen potential at this weight with Miller and Hooff likely here, and the prospect of Hinkle moving here could further the depth of young talent at 145. I don’t know that much about Hooff, but he was a state alternate last year as a sophomore beating Holter(Watkins Mem.) 17-4 in their 5th place match after getting pinned by the same wrestler in the sectional final the week before. The only losses that he accumulated over last year appeared to be state qualifiers, and he may be ready to make the jump to the big time after a promising Fargo performance that saw him win 3 matches in both Greco and Freestyle. Alex Sepeda(Marysville) missed a large portion of last season and did not wrestle at district despite qualifying. He is an underappreciated wrestler on a quality Marysville team. His sectional tournament saw him defeat state qualifier Durieux 6-5 in the semis before losing to state placer McDougle(Lincoln) in the finals. He may wrestle down at 138 if Rahmani and Sparks are at 126 and 132, and hopefully he is able to wrestle throughout the entire season this year. Plaisir was a district qualifier as a freshman winning a match over Darby(Kilbourne) at Darby. McCafferty eliminated Plaisir 10-4 at Darby finishing 2-2 as a sophomore. Brandon Goldsmith(Westerville N.) and Devyn VanHandel(Westland) are two yutes to consider at this weight. Goldsmith beat McCafferty 12-6 at Medina, but lost to state qualifiers Alexander(Northland) and Miller(Lancaster) at sectionals.

152-
Sean Black(Darby)-state qualifier
Cody Pollitt(Olentangy)-5th at district
Clayton Ray(Hamilton Twp.)-5th at district
Lucas Staten(Mount Vernon)-6th at district (state qualifier in 2012)
Marcus Williamson(Westerville N.)-2nd at Middle School state

There seems to be a Bermuda Triangle situation here with Black, Pollitt, and Staten, where each wrestler beats one of the other 3 and loses to the other. Staten was a state qualifier as a freshman, but just missed out last year losing to DiBennedetto(Upper Arlington) in overtime and 5-4 to Wahl(Kilbourne) in his go-to-state matches. He won his sectional semi against Black 8-4 who went on to qualify for state the next week and owned several impressive results throughout the year. He’ll look to make a return trip to Columbus a year after taking 8th a Brecksville and SWOWCA and 2nd at his home tournament where he beat state 6th placer Yarger(Pickerington C.) 5-2. Pollitt had several impressive results last year. He won his Olentangy tournament at 152 by pinning district champ Bair(Centerville). He followed that up by taking 4th at the North Canton Holliday Tournament pinning state qualifier McNally(Lake) and only losing to state champion Music(Ashland) twice. He started off his Top Gun tournament by pinning Casey Sparkman(Perry) who is one of the state title favorites this year, but missed out on placing after losing 4-2 to Marcelli(Jackson) who placed 6th at state twice and Valentine(Wapakoneta) who finished 5th in D-2 by a 4-1 score. He won his sectional title, but dropped and opening round match at Darby to Black 10-6. He reeled off 3 straight pins before Black defeated him in their go-to-state match 5-2. He closed out his season with a 10-3 win over Staten to finish as the state alternate. With the amount of pins that he racks up, Pollitt will be a factor in Columbus if he emerges from Darby. Black finished 7th at Medina pinning Davis(Indian Lake) who beat Pollitt the round prior. He also finished 4th at his sectional losing 5-3 to Llaneza(Westerville S.) for 3rd place but bettered that placement at district by finishing 3rd. He owned two 9-1 wins over qualifier Wahl at Darby and added another win over Miller(Wayne) in Columbus before dropping his placement match 8-3 to Marcelli. District bracketing could go a long way towards determining placement between these three. Ray will try to crack the Black-Pollitt-Staten triumvirate that rules over this weight class. He also was a match away from state in D-2 last year losing close 3-1 (in OT) and 6-5 matches to Tate(Mifflin) and Abduljelil(Whitehall-Yearling) respectively. Hammond(Canal Winchester), Pieczynski(Pickerington C.), Driscoll(Bradley), and Laneza will also provide adequate challenges to the rest of the field and push for qualification. Llaneza beat Hammond twice and Black one last year, but lost to Staten and Pollitt.

160-
Aaron Yarger(Pickerington C.)-6th at state
Scott Deluse(Lancaster)-7th at state
Jacob Hinz(Westerville N.)-state qualifier
Keith Neely(Upper Arlington)-6th at district
Blake Bollon(New Philadelphia)-7th at Middle School state

I wasn’t sure who would emerge from Darby at 152 last season, but was pleasantly surprised to see the district produce a state semi-finalist and another medalist in Columbus. Like 152, 160 may be a jumble of wrestlers than can beat one another on a given weekend. Hinz won his sectional as a sophomore beating Deluse by a lopsided 15-4 score in the finals. Yarger beat Hinz 15-7 in the quarters at Darby, before making the finals and falling to Deluse 6-3. At state, Deluse dropped an opening round match to the freshman McNally(Lake) but bounced back with wins over Wilson(Moeller) and Geary(Ross) to place. He capped off his junior year by pinning Johnson(Maple Hts.) for 7th. Yarger also beat Johnson and Geary in Columbus to make the semis before dropping his last 3 to take 6th. Hinz had a tougher road to hoe losing to 3x state champion Collica(Solon) in the first round of state and soon exiting 0-2. The rivalry that these 3 share should shape the district landscape at Darby in 2014. Neely was 6th as a sophomore, and we’ll see if he can make the jump up to beat the likes of Yarger, Deluse, and Hinz. Raymond Simpson was 2-2 at 160 at Darby last year for Hayes. They’re a quality team with a density of talent, so his weight class could be determined by how he and Chris Martinez grow in the off-season. Zach Donatelli(Darby), Nick Notestine(Pickerington C.), and Matt Cannon(St. Charles) represent 3 other district qualifiers with a chance to make some noise this year. Donatelli was a district qualifier last year as a sophomore but was unable to wrestle in the district tournament.

170-
Blake Reid(Upper Arlington)-state qualifier
Jake Stratton(Bradley)-state qualifier
George Dial(Pickerington N.)-5th at district
Chris Martinez(Hayes)- 2-2 at district
Casey Swinderman(New Philadelphia)- 2-2 at district
Jimmy Thompson(Lancaster)-1st at Middle School state

Hayes is a team I didn’t know much about, and I was surprised to find out what a quality squad they will be this year. Brusco was their biggest surprise from last year, but they have a host of returning wrestlers that could also make a big jump onto the state scene this year. Among the best of these is Martinez. He was 2-2 at Darby in a freshman campaign in which he owned a win over D-3 state 6th place-finisher Dom Johns(Coshocton) 14-9. Martinez was a Middle School state placer the year before, and Thompson is another former Middle School state placer that will be making an impact around this weight. He won the Junior High state title last year, and should continue to get better with state placer Deluse to practice with every day. Dial eliminated 2012 state qualifier R.J. Funk(Lancaster) 6-2 to place at district last year, and lost a hard fought 14-10 match to Sunkle(Pickerington C.) to qualify. Jake Stratton also beat Funk at district (3-2) on his way to a state birth. He may be up at 182, which could further add to the quagmire at that weight. Swinderman or state qualifier Barrow will likely occupy 170 for New Philadelphia. Swinderman was eliminated from Heath by state placer Shoemaker(London) 10-2 last year a match away from placing. Evan Trainer(Westerville S.) is another wrestler to consider after a quarterfinals appearance at Darby last year. I put state qualifier Reid at this weight, but there’s just as much of a chance that he ends up at 182 next year. He did not participate at Medina, but Reid claimed a sectional title and took a state ticket back to Upper Arlington with him after pinning Dial and defeating Stratton 5-3 at Darby. Blake dropped a close 3-2 match to Walker(Darby) who finished 5th at state in the district finals, and then he suffered 2 close losses to Lang(Brecksville) 6-1 and Gilchrist(Centerville) 4-3 at the Schott.

182-
Matt Lybarger(Mount Vernon)-state qualifier
Nate Hall(Olentangy)-state qualifier
Mark Barrow(New Philadelphia)-state qualifier
Trevor Parker(Darby)-state qualifier
Emerson Milner(Orange)-5th at Middle School state

I’ll defer to Boro’s expertise here as he has Lybarger ranked at this weight. Lybarger was already very good at 195 last year, but he should be huge at this weight as he seeks out a state title in these intricate upper-weights. Lybarger was 2nd at SWOWCA beating state 6th Bridwell(Hamilton Ross) in the semis before falling to Scales(Colerain) in the title match. He also won the Troy, Clay, Jerome, Mount Vernon and Brecksville tournaments. Brecksville was probably the most impressive win as Lybarger bested a loaded weight by beating state qualifier Silva(Clay), Nichols(Perry) who was 3rd in D-2, and Tschantz(Barberton) who was 4th in D-1. It sounded like his finals win over Tschantz was a last second takedown to secure the victory to further add to the excitement. He took 3rd at Darby losing to Pfarr(Marysville) in the tiebreak before going 1-2 at state losing to Scales(also in the tiebreak). Hall won Top Gun as a sophomore (beating state qualifiers Cordova and Teasley) after taking 7th at Medina and 5th at Hoover. He then won his sectional and district tournaments, defeating Shackleford(Thomas Worthington) 3-1 in both finals. Hall won his opening match at state before losing 6-3 and 5-1 to 2x state placers Lay(Loveland) and Halaska(Parma). Barrow was also a district champ last year, winning at D-2 Heath. He pinned state 6th placer Tiley(Hudson) at Hudson and seemed to have state qualifier Dennis’s(Claymont) number beating him in the state duels, conference tournament, and sectional tournament. He bettered a robust Eisnnicher(Big Walnut) in the district finals, but fell in the opening round at state to Audi(Poland) and was eliminated by Caris(Eastwood) who finished 3rd. Parker was also a state qualifier out of Darby last year claiming 3rd over Quinonez(West) who defaulted the match, and he subsequently lost his consolation match at state to alternate Dickerson(Mansfield Senior) after getting stuck by Dear(Jackson). Shaun Norris(Lancaster) was 2-2 at Darby last year despite not wrestling during various portions of the season. He beat state qualifier Quinonez at the sectional tournament before losing 3-1 to him at Darby. Andrew Sierawski(Hayes), another promising Pacer, was also 2-2 at district after winning a sectional title at Westland.

195-
Austin Pfarr(Marysville)-5th at state
Lenn’S Kamba(Orange)-state qualifier
Shawn Johnson(Hayes)-state qualifier
Nic Kramer(Westerville N.)- 2-2 at district
Robbie Fusner(Central Crossing)- 2-2 at district

Marysville is a team that I enjoy watching. The coaching staff gets a lot out of their kids, as was evident in Noah Forrider’s undefeated state title season last year. When I was working at Top gun a few years ago, there was a scoring discrepancy in terms of team points after one wrestler had siged an incorrect score sheet. The team protested and the referee corroborated the score to the match resulting in one team achieving a trophy and Marysville narrowly missing out. I remember when we informed one of the Marysville coaches of what had happened his response was brief &#8220shhh. I don’t care.” I thought that was a great response that demonstrated the appropriate amount of levity in a situation that had required a great deal of rigamarole to correct. He wasn’t rude or condescending about it, but it showed that he was more concerned with how his wrestlers were performing as a team that taking home a piece of hardware. I was very impressed by Pfarr’s development last year. His only losses were to state qualifiers, and he amassed many impressive wins throughout a state placement season. He’ll be on the list of state title contenders at the deep 195 weight this season. He was 2nd at Top Gun beating state qualifier Brown(Wapakoneta) and D-3 placer Weber(Loudonville) before losing to 2x state champ Tayse(Perry) 3-2 in the finals. He beat Lybarger at district (as previously mentioned) on his way to a title, and opened up his state tournament with 2 wins over Tonkin(Centerville) 13-2 and Murphy(Brecksville) 3-2 in OT before falling to Tayse once again. He lost a gut-wrenching overtime match to Tschantz and pinned Murphy in the rematch to claim 5th. Kamba qualified for state taking 4th at Darby losing a 2-1 match to Lybarger for 3rd before falling to Thornberry(Moeller) 10-6 and Dzuro(St. Edward) 6-0 at the Schott. Johnson is another returning state qualifier for Hayes. He beat Kamba 6-1 in their go-to-state district semi-final match. Dylan McDowell(Pickerington C.) is another grappler to ponder at this range. He claimed a solid 17-10 win over a tough Riggs(Bradley) at sectionals last year. Nic Kramer(Westerville N.) and Robbie Fusner(Central Crossing), a freshman, were both 2-2 at Darby last year. Amri Mansour(Davidson) and Malcolm Solack(Groveport Madison) are a couple more names to take a look at in the 182-195 range, and James Love(Reynoldsburg) could also make a push. He was 2nd at Kenston last year at 170 and only lost to Riggs and Shackleford at sectionals.

220-
Andy Struttman(Westerville N.)-state qualifier
Micky Crum(Hamilton Twp.)-state qualifier 2012
Chris Crumb(Olentangy)-5th at district
C.J. Kinzer(Teays Valley)- 2-2 at district

Crum was a state qualifier in 2012 but wasn’t wrestling for Hamilton come tournament time last year. He did win the Licking Hts. Tournament last season, triumphing over Struttman 10-6 in the finals. He’s got a legitimate shot of placing at state if he’s wrestling, but if not Logan Jones was a district qualifier for Hamilton while they were in D-2 last year and should prove a quality starter. Struttman had a break-out performance at Medina taking 5th. He lost an opening round match to Hunter(Bedford) before winning 5 straight consolation matches over stiff competition. One of the wins was over Delas(Perrysburg) who was a district placer at Cleveland Hts.. Another win was over the stellar freshman Chaney(Perkins) 18-9, who finished 6th in D-2. He also owned a win over Hunter for 5th place after getting pinned by him in the first round. At the district tournament, Struttman claimed 4 pins including a 28 second fall over Lacey(Canal Winchester) for 3rd place. I’m intrigued to see just how good he can be this year. Crumb was the state alternate as a freshman losing a surprisingly high scoring 13-12 match to Lacey to qualify for state. Crumb looked good all year, and as he gets a little older and even better, he’ll be something special. Early in the year he went 3-2 at Hoover, only losing to state qualifiers Martin(Butler) and Bentley(Carrollton) 3-2 and 8-2. Among his wins at Hoover was a 5-2 triumph over Ginn(West Jefferson) who finished 2nd in Division 3. Crumb took 5th at Top Gun, beating a tough Yoder(Fairless) and state qualifier Logan Sharp(West Branch) in the process before beating Lacey 18-10 in the sectional final. Kinzer wrestled tough last year only losing 4-0 to state qualifier Mowery(Jerome) and 5-4 to Smith(Lincoln) who finished 6th at Darby. Adam Thesing(Westerville S.) pinned that same Smith early last season, but Kinzer beat him 11-1 in their sectional semi bout. Thesing, Colton Richard(Hayes), Ras Lumpkins(Scioto), and Jeff Vinden(New Philadelphia) all claimed a win at their respective district tournaments last season.

285-
Geno Rollo(Pickerington N.)-state qualifier
Alonzo Jewel(Hamilton Twp.)-state qualifier
Brandyn Darnell(Teays Valley)-state qualifier
Chandler Evanichko(Grove City)-5th at district

The middle of the state frequently has talented heavyweights emerging from its district, and that trend should continue in 2014. I knew almost nothing about Rollo and Darnell last year, and yet they both advanced to Columbus at years end with Rollo a point away from state placement. Darnell defeated Rollo 7-4 in their sectional final, and Rollo returned the favor at Darby winning their 3rd place bout 7-1. Rollo stuck Zapata(Clay) in their consolation bout at state, and dropped a close 2-1 match to Morgan(Bedford) in their placement match. Darnell beat Evanichko 12-9 in their district quarterfinal match pinning Gray(West) to punch a state ticket. He’ll look to best his state tournament performance of last year. Evanichko lost a 6-0 bout to Rollo to-go-to state but bounced back to close out his season with a 12-2 win over Gray in their 5th place showdown. Darius Walker(Marysville) is another heavyweight to consider. He pinned state qualifier Zapata in their dual meet and dropped a 10-7 bout to Evanichko to place at Darby last year. Riley Young(Coffman), Gage Archer(Westerville N.), Kameron Teacher(Cerntral Crossing), and Chad Miller(Darby) are all potential impact heavyweights this year with Teacher being only a sophomore. Jewel makes the jump from D-2 to D-1 with Hamilton this year. He was a state qualifier last year taking 3rd at Heath and winning out after suffering a first round defeat. That shows both tremendous emotional and physical endurance for a heavyweight. His opening match at state was an overtime loss to Lawrence(Oak Harbor) who finished 8th at the Schott. He should be among the favorites to place in Columbus at this ever changing weight class. Hopefully, the top seniors will return to the weight as heavyweights will occasionally forgo their senior year to minimize the risk of injury before a college football career.

-Max Pearce

He does not represent Inside The Circle.

But I certainly enjoyed it!!! Awesome stuff.

Josh Wimer should be in the state final this year! I like the CC roster, young cats that took lumps last year and gained critical experience...watch out!!

Don't think Crum will wrestle this year (football commit to Louisville), but could be wrong??

Hope Laney stays with Groveport (community should've passed levy!!) and advances up the podium this year!

That's really some good stuff, I have enjoyed reading all of his previews.

bump!

wow... just, wow. central district wrestling is your world, sir. the rest of us are just living in it. good job!

the Rooney from St, Charles is Tim Rooney no relation to Tom Rooney the official thank God.

Here's hoping TIM is offended by that remark!!!

Tom Rooney for president!!!!!!!

I'm inclined to agree with you Cruiser. Rooney, along with Tom Martin, are two of the best officials we have in Central Ohio (in my opinion).

152- Yarger and Deluse are the obvious top two coming into the season. Hinz is a good hard-nosed wrestler, who has the potential for a big season this year. I think Neely and Donatelli are even Donatelli was in a lot of the matchs and he lost and only lost by a few points to some tough guys, Neely is a good wrestler and never stops fight (which is a trait a lot of UA wrestlers have). Cannon could be in the mix depending on how much work he put in this off season and how much he puts in through out the season.

Chris Crumb is going Heavyweight